Member-only story
Your Imposter Syndrome is Fake
Don’t let the self-help industry fool you — education beats courage
I read two sentences and cringed. Minutes before our lunch meeting, I’d discovered an awful truth: My friend was bad at writing.
His sentences were broken. His verbs were odd. The grammar was a mess. Words like “extemporary” flew into the middle of a line where they didn’t fit, which meant he had cheated with a thesaurus.
What could I say to him?
This was seven days after my first viral post, which meant I was completely full of myself. Going viral is dangerous. It makes you think you know something. I dreamed that I could turn my friend into “the next me.” What a stupid thing to think.
Worse, I assumed I could help him in less than an hour. He mentioned “imposter syndrome” the first time we spoke, but there were many issues a pep talk would never take care of.
I was still wondering when he handed sat down across from me at the park bench. After an awkward silence, he spoke.
“So, how did you overcome your fear of releasing your work online?” he said.
The answer hit me like a ton of bricks. I’d honestly never thought of it before.
